Dev’t spending to take up 49.2% of budget by 2022

THE draft of the Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022 targets total government spending for development purposes at 49.2% of the national budget by 2022.

“From an average share of 33.0% to the national budget in the past six years from 2010 to 2015, developmental expenditures are targeted to reach 49.2% by 2022, making room for programs and projects crucial to more inclusive growth,” according to the initial draft of the plan.

“The government is also committed to increasing the share of the more productive component of the budget and channeling most of its available resources to the social and infrastructure sectors,” according to the plan’s Sound Macroeconomic Policy chapter.

“This will be made possible through more prudent expenditure and debt liability management strategies to bring down the cost of borrowings and net lending assistance and government rightsizing to ensure more efficient and effective operations.”

Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno last week said the government expects to spend up to P9 trillion in 2017-2022 to close the infrastructure gap.

Infrastructure spending is expected to rise to 7.1% of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2022.

Tax policy and administration reforms as well as increasing local sources of revenue are expected to help expand the government’s fiscal space.

The government should also implement and formulate expenditure management reforms and medium-term debt management strategies to support fiscal performance, according to the draft.

Meanwhile, a flexible inflation targeting, interest rate corridor (IRC) system, a marketdetermined exchange rate and suff icient international reserves, deeper domestic capital markets, broader credit access for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), and the development of the sukuk or Islamic market are considered necessary to ensure a resilient and inclusive financial system

On the legislative agenda to achieve these goals include the Budget Reform Bill, Pension Reform Bill, Government Rightsizing Bill, Real Property Valuation and Assessment Reform Act, LGU Income Classification Bill, LGU Property Insurance Bill and the Amendments of the Local Government Code of 1991.

Meanwhile, the sectors that the government sees with the greatest potential are agriculture, services, and manufacturing.

As of Monday, nine of the plan’s 22 chapters have been uploaded.

Also included in the PDP 20172022 are the new chapters on justice administration (Chapter 6), culture and values promotion (Chapter 7) and technology and innovation promotion (Chapter 14).

“We invite the public once again to contribute to this very important conversation, which is about translating our collective vision into concrete actions,” said Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia in a statement.

However, due to the tight end- of- month deadline for the new PDP draft, NEDA will only be giving the public two days to give its inputs and suggestions. The deadline will be midnight of January 12, 2017.

“Inputs and suggestions on the draft will be accepted until 12:00 p.m. of January 12, 2017. These will be considered in the finalization of the chapter write-up prior to its presentation in the 3rd Plan Steering Committee Meeting scheduled on January 16, 2017,” NEDA said in the statement. —